United State Attorney’s Office

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A former Farm Service Agency director in Sumner County was indicted Wednesday on a charge of making $306,000 in agriculture disaster payments to applicants who had been denied approval for the money, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.

Ellen A. Love, 51, Argonia, Kan., was charged with one count of unlawfully conveying federal funds. The indictment alleges the crime occurred while she worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as Executive Director of the Sumner County Farm Service Agency (FSA). The Sumner County FSA Service Center is located in Wellington, Kan.

The USDA provides assistance to farm producers who have suffered losses as a result of agricultural disasters. One program USDA administers is the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE). To be approved, applicants must have suffered significant crop losses in a disaster-designated county and they must have had crop insurance through the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation.

Applications for SURE are reviewed by the FSA County Office Committee. The indictment alleges that in June 2013 Love processed payments to four applicants even though they had been disapproved for failing to meet SURE crop insurance requirements.
She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson is prosecuting.